February 02, 2008
Nobody has a good hand all the time. Anybody who does is probably getting the cards from up their sleeve. So when the player to your right seems to always be stealing the pot when you’re in the big blind, you can either assume he gets the best hand in the world whenever he is in that particular position or he is bluffing most of the time.
If the aforementioned player continues to try to steal the blinds when you’re sitting in the big blind position, this means that they have picked up on something about you that indicates to them that you’re likely to give in when they get aggressive. Continuing to fold until really good hole cards just happen to show up when you’re sitting in the big blind position will do nothing to discourage this behavior. It will just validate that they can push you around with their bets. To stop this behavior, you need to stand up to this player.
We have all been told that to beat a bully you must stand up to them. In the real world this is a good way to get a free ride to the hospital: bullies are usually bullies because they are bigger and stronger than most people in their peer group. At the table a bully is only fueled by your weakness. Because they can’t have the nuts every time you are in the big blind, you can logically conclude they are mostly bluffing. In this case you can feel good about playing with a lower quality hand, because you can bet that the chances are pretty good that they are lying about the strength of their hand. So when they try to steal the pot, match their aggression - bet and raise with impunity. This is the best defense to this situation.
January 26, 2008
When you play at tournament, and the blinds are high. For example you are sitting before button, or on button (small blind, big blind) and you habe hand like 9T or Q7 suited, and some players before you just call big blind. You may robe the pot, with good raise. As rool when blinds are high, and player just call, its like he say - Give a raise and i fold. I have check it a lot of times, and it is work. Just remamber one rule, if you have really bad hand, batter fold. Cause rarely, but you could receive a reraise, so you should be ready fold or call.
Sometimes it is good show that you are bluffing, cause next time players will not belive in your hand, and will check you (and when they will check you should have a monstra for sure 
) If you have monstra and few persons all time call your raise, on the river give not too big, but not too small raise. You should show with your raise that you wanna robe pot, and make player with bad hand ( middle pair or etc.) call your raise or even re-raise you. If you will give small raise - mostly you show that you have a hand, and you want receive a call. Too big raise - maybe everyone will think that you are bluffing, but players with middle hand will affraid to loose to many chips, in case when u have hand.
P.S sorry for not good english
November 03, 2007
I’ve written about little pairs and the problems they can present especially when played out of position. There are many beginners and intermediate players who just can’t resist playing little pairs. You only see a pocket pair, on average, every sixteen hands so what’s not to like? I’ll tell you what’s not to like and that is little pairs out of position!
The funniest reason I’ve heard regarding playing little pairs in early position is the premise that if they are folded, they always seem to make a set on the flop …
Read the rest of this entry »
October 19, 2007
Introduction
The difference between a poker pro and an amateur is in the way a person plays over the course of time. That said, how a player handles the turn in each hand is what separates the men from the boys. Most professional players know betting the turn is a very profitable play, and that’s where you want to press on the gas pedal the majority of the time.
When & When Not to Bet
If you bet out on the flop, you should almost always bet the turn unless you know you’re beat.
Most amateur players will bet the flop, but refuse to put any more money into the pot for fear of losing - they refuse to fire twice. You must get over this and learn the right time to fire twice to move up with the pros. Read the rest of this entry »
October 08, 2007
By Peter Wessel
Anyone who has played more than a few hands of No-Limit Hold’em has undoubtedly heard the mantra “Position is critical.”
But few truly understand why it’s so important - or more specifically, in what situations and in what ways position most impacts a No-Limit Hold’em game.
You’ll find several situations in No-Limit where the relative position of the players in the hand has a significant impact - both on the way the hand is played and on the outcome. In particular when:
- Flopping a set
- Playing drawing hands
- Playing difficult or trap hands (controlling the size of the pot)
- Looking for bluffing opportunities
- Playing the turn
If you want to be a successful No-Limit Hold’em player, understanding position is absolutely essential. So with that in mind, it seems appropriate to devote a series of articles to some of the subtleties of positional play. This is the first in a five-part series.
Part I: The Impact of Position When You Flop a Set
For the sake of simplicity, we’ll restrict our analysis to heads-up pots and discuss some of the differences in the play of the hand depending on whether you are in or out of position. Read the rest of this entry »
